West Ham: Moyes ‘surprisingly’ excluding £30m star at London Stadium

West Ham United manager David Moyes ‘should be relying’ on in-form players such as Said Benrahma, according to journalist Paul Brown.

The 27-year-old started the season in impressive fashion but has struggled for consistent minutes on the pitch in recent weeks despite the Hammers’ woes in the Premier League.

Throughout the summer, it was reported that West Ham were willing to listen to offers for Benrahma as they looked to raise funds to bolster their options in the final third of the pitch.

Newly-promoted Nottingham Forest were linked with a move for the Algeria international, yet a formal offer never materialised and he ended up staying put at the London Stadium.

And Benrahma appeared determined to fight for his place at West Ham, registering a goal and an assist over the two legs against Viborg in the Europe Conference League play-off while also putting in an impressive performance against Forest.

The capital club may have lost 1-0 to the Midlands outfit, but according to SofaScore, Benrahma was his side’s best player on the day and was awarded a rating of 7.4 out of ten.

However, since then, the creative talent has started just two top-flight fixtures and has failed to complete the 90 minutes on either occasion despite West Ham picking up only four points all season.

Brown believes it is ‘a little surprising’ that Moyes has not turned to Benrahma on more occasions to turn West Ham’s fortunes around as he was ‘at the top’ of his game in the opening stages of the season.

In an interview with GiveMeSport, he said: “Benrahma did start the season like he was going to tear it up pretty quickly.

“So, it is a little surprising that he hasn’t played more because I think the manager should be relying on players who look like